Too much rain

Rain

This piece today is going to hit on two topics.

First off the Global Peace Index for 2011 has just been released.  A few weeks ago i wrote about the peace rankings of the 50 states.  Today it is the world index being released and 153 nations are ranked, unfortunately the news is not so good.  For the third year running the world is less peaceful.

Beautiful clouds

We have all been watching the events in the Middle East and realize there is much unrest all over.  Ordinary citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and even Spain and Greece have clogged the streets of their main cities to clamor for change through peaceful demonstrations that have led their governments to use violence to combat the threat.  Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan have experienced continued unrest as have large parts of Africa.  These hot spots have contributed to a less peaceful world.

The index is the worlds leading measure of peacefulness and measures twenty three separate indicators that reflect the existence or absence of peace. Iceland bumped out New Zealand and now occupies the top spot while Iraq has moved up one and let Somalia lay claim to last place.  The US is 82 rising three slots upwards but still two spots behind China at 80. Canada has moved into the top ten residing at number eight while Western Europe remains the most peaceful region in the world.  In Mexico, at 121, organized crime and the drug trade contribute to low scores.

Buck Island in the rain

“The US rank reflects much higher levels of militarization and involvement in external conflicts than its northern neighbor.  Several measures of societal safety and security also receive higher scores, including access to light weapons and the proportion of the population in jail(the largest of the 153 countries surveyed).” Institute for Global Economics and Peace

According to the report if the US reduced its violence to the same levels as Canada it could save approximately $360 billion and create a stimulus that could generate 2.7 million jobs.

Some of the findings found that societies that had lower discrimination, more informed citizens, high levels of trust within society, and gender equality tended to be more peaceful. For a more in depth look at the index visit http://www.visionofhumanity.org/

The other topic i wanted to visit briefly has to do with privacy. i’ve been thinking a lot about this topic as more and more of us use social media instead of one on one to connect with our “friends.”

Flooding

Privacy has to do with selective information.  We choose or think we choose what we want to broadcast to our “friends” and the world at large which includes government.  The boundaries of this information vary for each individual with some maintaining total blackouts while others spill their guts voluntarily. 

The right to privacy can be found in each countries laws with some claiming no privacy rights while others like our own lay out the parameters.  Privacy is not a universal concept, but we in the west have used privacy laws to protect ourselves from an intrusive government.

My only point here it that when anyone collects information about you it is harmless until that time that the collector decides to use it against you. In his essay The Value of Privacy, security expert Bruce Schneier says, "Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance."